Reviews and Resolutions

First things first, a very happy new year to all my… er, fans? Nah, I sound like an X-Factor contestant. Erm, readers? Folks who have seen my name somewhere and have a vague clue about some writing I did once. Yeah there you go.

Here are my new year’s resolutions.

1. Lose 30 pounds. I bought something from the UK for about 30 pounds and it never arrived, so I can cross that one off my list.

2. Write a book. “a book”. There, done that one too.

3. Spend more time with the kids. I’m trapped indoors today on a cold, rainy New Year’s Day, nothing is open and the kids are bouncing off the walls. If I survive I think I’ve done my duty for the year. Sorted.

4. Self publish something. Well I published this blog page, so that’s done too. This is easy!

5. Be a better person. Being “better” is relative. If I volunteer to wash up today, that makes me better than last year so I win again.

This one is from SF Crowsnest and made for a really nice way to close out 2011. Patrick Mahon writes,

My favourite story in the anthology was Richard Salter’s time-travel tale, ‘Yestermorrow’ . … I enjoyed this story immensely. Salter takes an interesting idea and executes it with style, providing a strong lead character, genuine conflict, lots of depth and a great ending.

Just about made my year! Of the complete collection, he says,

‘Solaris Rising’ is chock-full of enjoyable and interesting new SF stories. I found them to be diverse, entertaining and, for those who don’t already know the authors, a great introduction to their work.

Doesn’t get much more glowing than that folks.

Just as enthusiastic, though much shorter, is this review from Morpheus Tales #15 Supplement. Not much detail on individual stories, but of the whole collection:

…it goes for quality rather than quantity and does an astoundingly good job.